Heimir Hallgrimsson hoping Matt Doherty proves point on pitch

Heimir Hallgrimsson is hoping that Matt Doherty will do his talking on the pitch after the Wolves man received a late call-up for this week's doubleheader against Finland and England.

Doherty played in Hallgrimsson’s first match in charge against England in September and was a second-half substitute in the Greece defeat three days later, however, he was controversially left out of the October squad.

Once again, the former Bohemians man was overlooked for the November internationals, however, injury issues led to the manager making the call to bring Doherty back in from the cold.

Thankfully for Hallgrimsson it was not a frosty encounter between the two as Doherty arrived into the Dublin camp this week, but rather an amicable arrival due to the nature of the experienced defender.

"He is a nice guy, it has been quite pleasant," said Hallgrimsson, speaking at the pre-match press conference on the eve of the Finland game at the Aviva Stadium.

"Just to answer on Matt," he said. "We always said we did not want to have both Matt and Séamus at the same time, to think a little bit for the future, so missing Séamus and Shane Duffy too, two really experienced players, no doubt in my mind that Matt was the replacement there."

"Obviously, I am not going to tell you who we were thinking about starting," Hallgrimsson said earlier in the conference, therefore any questions regarding whether Doherty would feature or not would have proved futile.

However, there would be an assumption that the defender will certainly see some minutes throughout either or both of the games, and Doherty will certainly be out to prove a point, having previously expressed his disappointment about being left out.

"I hope everyone, not only him, will show that on the